[Music] today we're gonna learn about his history that is rarely talked about in history textbooks in fact the first sweeping civil rights legislation the Americans with Disabilities Act a da was that actually outlawed discrimination and began to provide public access and transportation and accommodations was only passed 30 years ago in 1990 in this picture men and women with different types of disabilities were protesting the past for the passage of a DA by crawling up the steps of the Capitol building as an Atlanta activist put it well at that time black people fought for the right to write in front of the bus we're fighting for the right to just get on the bus today we're going to look at the long road to a disability rights movement I'd encourage reading Joseph's Shapiro's no pity people with disabilities forging a new civil rights movement or Paul Longmore a new man skis the new disability history kim nielsen also has a good book for entitled a disability history of the United States covering pre 1942 to the present day after this lecture you should be able to identify first why did people disabilities even need a civil rights law secondly what's the timeline for disability history beginning in 1776 up to the present day passage the Americans with Disabilities Amendments and why was this pivotal moment in 1973 the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 section 504 so significant most with disabilities were highly isolated and shunned from view many were also isolated from their own families as you see in this photograph these boys with Down's syndrome were institutionalized together with little to no contacts from their families for example the Kennedys acknowledged that they had a sister with an intellectual disability in an institution in Wisconsin most were forced to be put into institutions many were sterilized sterilized even without their knowledge at times and those with intellectual disabilities are even more discriminated against than other types of disabilities at some point most if not all have or will experience this lack of privilege based on having a disability the US census data documents some of this evidence 30 percent of people with disabilities versus twelve point eight percent of those without disabilities live in poverty if you have more severe disabilities you're more likely to experience persistent poverty according to brault some have gone on and wondered is this disparity because they don't have enough education and lack of preparedness but a study from 2013 found that those with graduate degrees phd's masters also showed a big gap in employment between those with and without disabilities further Brawl went on and analyzed more census data and found that four and ten individuals aged 21 to 64 with a disability were employed about 40 percent as compared though with 8 in 10 adults without disabilities or about 80 percent half as many why is it because of accommodation issues flexible scheduling companies don't want to work with that the interview process perceptions furthermore a separate research team found that being female and with a disability led to double marginalization in the workplace only 28% of women with disabilities were employed as compared with 70% of those without disabilities I think Helen Keller's kind of summed this research up well we have been accustomed to regard the unemployed deaf and blind as victims of their infirmities Keller said facts show that it's not physical blindness but social blindness which cheats our hands of the right to toil now would be a great time to pull out your timeline of disability history it's a document on Moodle that's provided to help you really get down what's important to remember I'm going to share a lot of information and I want you to be sure that you know the dates that you do you will want to refer back to and your assignments and so let's begin with 1776 it was the birth of our nation through the Revolutionary War not much is written about those with disabilities at this time but what does exist suggests that many disabled people were able to fit easily into society interestingly governor Morris of New York sign who signed the Constitution had a carriage accident had a rough stick that replaced his left leg Stephen Hopkins one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence had cerebral palsy and his famous quote was my hand trembles but my heart does not in fact the Continental Congress even paid for up to fifty percent of the pensions of disabled soldiers the first time the federal government would help States care for those with disabilities however Dorothea Dix was a Boston schoolteacher who in the 1840s demanded that states take control of these miserable local alms houses she found people with mental illness intellectual disabilities criminals those with epilepsy in quotes cages closets cellars stalls and pens and they were chained they were naked and beaten with rods and lashed into obedience Dorothea was appalled and in 1854 sheikah lobbied Congress to provide funding for separate facilities for those who were deaf whom they unfortunately called domme at that time and blind and then mentally ill so even though she had gotten Congress to pass this law President Franklin Pierce vetoed the measure when it came to his desk he said it's not a federal responsibility and this actually limited federal interventions in welfare matters for the next half century there was a sentiment that people with disabilities needed to be rehabilitated but there are many differences which there was no cure and they'll and this really led to a separation from society and just a continuation of myths and stereotypes these institutions such as the one shown here in the picture its sole purpose was care and maintenance in 1812 the Baltimore School for the Blind was established in 1817 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet founded the School for the Deaf in Hartford and interestingly one school went beyond maintenance and care Samuel Gridley Howe founded the mat Massachusetts asylum for the blind which later became the Perkins Institute which was the earliest form of mainstreaming whose goal was to help students find work and to live on their own after the Civil War there was there were many disabilities on both sides of the war but only Union soldiers received pensions the South was really hard hit and the rise of orthopedic medicine came to being Mississippi alone spent 20% of its state revenue on artificial arms and legs with new medications more were surviving through the war and through industrial accidents at the turn of the century eugenics raised its ugly head and in 1912 a group known as the American breeders Association later renamed the American Genetics Association drafted a model sterilization law to be applied to what they deemed socially unfit classes by World War one sixteen states had adopted sterilization statutes and advocated for mercy killing of individuals of epilepsy or mental disabilities especially those who had mild intellectual disabilities some of these laws are still on our state's books this eugenics did not go away and in the 1960s dr. Hazleton a physician led many infants with disabilities died he took it to talk-shows newspapers he even created a movie in which a sick infant was left to die he was investigated three times but upheld however he was not supported by the American Medical Association these institutions continue to grow and many parents in the 1950s and 60s were told to institutionalize their children they had no other choice much like the Kennedys were told however a good number began hiding their children so they wouldn't have to go to institutions could you imagine having to give your child up to an institution and not knowing how they were doing fortunately involvement in two world wars profoundly changed the way people with disabilities reviewed and treated by the dominant culture because so many were being injured as thousands of soldiers returned home from the battlefields with Disabilities provisions were made to assist them and re-entering the workforce the first vocational rehabilitation programs are established in the 1920s to provide service to veterans with disabilities at the same time during the Depression the first act of civil disobedience by people with disabilities occurred three hundred pensioners occupied the Works Progress Administration offices in Washington to protest that they were routinely being rejected for positions due to their disability they forced the WPA to hire about 1,500 New Yorkers with disabilities but there is were just piecemeal gains in 1935 this is a really significant day ad that's your timeline Franklin Delano Roosevelt FDR signed the Social Security Act describing it's not a matter of charity but of social justice he himself had polio and became a paraplegic even though he tried to hide this fact in photos in World War two it came out that over a hundred thousand Germans with disabilities were exterminated first in the gas chambers of the german death camps now known as action t4 after world war ii in 1946 the Paralyzed Veterans of America was established to promote medical care the President's Committee on employment of the handicapped was put together in 1947 which demanded that we had a business obligation to hire these people with disabilities once they left rehabilitation the fields of physical and occupational therapy took off at this point the next piece in the movement was of course the parents and there's nothing more powerful than mama and papa bear and my years as a school psychologist I saw the beautiful ability and parents to see the potential of their children as they know them best as practitioners we think we understand their child's capabilities through the assessments and the work we do but truly the parents spend the most time with them and know them best strengths and weaknesses never underestimate the power of the parent and that's what happened in this disability rights movement in the 1950s parents are tired of hiding away their kids with disabilities and they had limited support so they did what was needed they organized and this is what led to our laws many parents organized form different disability advocacy organizations with a purpose of getting accurate information to families professionals policymakers in the general public these parents realize that each child has a purpose as Ephesians 2:10 States for we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do these children had purposes and parent groups advocated for personal autonomy education social interaction the choice of life styles and economic self-sufficiency I love this story one parent made a huge impact in the disability community after he lost his son and 15 of his sons friends in a street car accident his son could have been saved had there been a hospital near the accident he founded this hospital and later created a medical facility for children with disabilities the father Edgar Allen was a businessman and he created a survey and he discovered that many children with mobility impairments particularly were hidden away at home by parents who feared detection would bring about institutionalization he organized what was now called the Easter Seals Society which became kind of a prototype for state programs but more importantly he presented economic arguments for employment and education rather than charity so as to allow them to achieve equality and independence and in that 1950s 60s era a number of organizations were founded such as Ark which was founded here in Minneapolis which promotes independent living for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities we see incredible advocacy by parents and in the next lecture we'll look at the civil rights legislation that marked the 60s and 70s you